Jakarta, Oct 23 (Antara) - Indonesia has so far only managed to meet one-quarter of its electricity demand, and hence, the government has vowed to continue its 35 thousand-megawatt (MW) power plants' project, which it views as a realistic plan.
The government plans to build power plants, with a total capacity to generate 35 thousand MW of electricity by 2019. The development of the project is crucial to meet the increasing public demand for electricity, although it is believed that only 16-18 thousand MW of the target would be achieved during the coming five years.
"The capacity of the power project will remain unchanged. It will not be reduced to (16 to 18 thousand MW)," Vice President Jusuf Kalla stated on September 8.
President Joko Widodo also emphasized late last month that the government is determined to continue to implement its plan to develop power plants to generate 35 thousand MW of electricity.
Therefore, Kalla held a meeting on Tuesday (Oct. 20), which was attended by President Director of state-owned electricity firm PLN Sofyan Basir, to discuss the continuation of the power project.
According to Vice Presidential Spokesman Husain Abdullah, the vice president reminded that the development of the 35 thousand-MW electricity project is essential to meet the public's power requirement.
"A capacity of 35 thousand MW might have included electricity reserves. Hence, once the needs of the industry and public are met, a certain amount of capacity should be set aside as reserve," Kalla was quoted by Abdullah as saying on Tuesday.
Until this year, the installed capacity of electricity nationwide is forecast to be 50 thousand MW, which will be used to supply electricity to about 250 million people.
Thus, with the country's current capacity estimated to be 50 thousand MW, the completion of the power plants, with a targeted capacity of 35 thousand MW, is expected to increase the country's total electricity generation capacity to 85 thousand MW by the end of 2019 or when President Widodo's term ends.
Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs, Rizal Ramli remarked on Sept. 7 that the construction of the 35 thousand-MW power project was not likely to be completed within five years.
"After discussing it, we realized that it is impossible for us to complete the construction of the 35 thousand-MW power project within five years. It is likely to be achieved only in 10 years," he affirmed.
Ramli added that the project, with a combined capacity of 16-18 thousand MW, was most likely to be completed in the coming five years. This is the likeliest possibility to meet the peak electricity requirement in 2019.
However, Kalla remarked that the capacity target of the power project, proposed to be built until 2019, will remain unchanged at 35 thousand MW as planned earlier.
The vice president made the statement while denying the outcome of previous talks, where it was reportedly decided to reduce the capacity from 35 thousand MW to only 18 thousand MW.
"This is not true. I have checked it with the president director of state-owned electricity company PLN (Sofyan Basir). There was no such discussion about it (the capacity being cut). Who says it was reduced? Who decided it? Can the Coordinating Minister (Rizal Ramli) change a decision made by the president?" Kalla noted at his office on Tuesday (Sept. 8).
During Tuesday's meeting (Oct. 20), the vice president also affirmed that in future, electricity subsidies would decrease due to the utilization of new sources of electricity, such as gas, water, coal and geothermal energy.
To this end, Kalla urged the state utility company PLN to simultaneously evaluate and overcome onfield problems.
"Land clearance is one of the examples of the problems being faced on the field. The construction of power transmission links often encounters problems with regard to procuring land from the people," the vice president was quoted by Abdullah as saying.
In the meantime, Deputy Chairman of Commission VII on energy affairs of the House of Representatives (DPR) Satya Widya Yudha urged the government to take into account risks that might be encountered in the development of the 35 thousand-MW power project to avoid losses.
"Risks must be taken into account. For instance, it should consider its obligation to buy the produced power. If it uses the 'take or pay' mechanism, this will automatically require the PLN to purchase regardless of the amount of electricity produced (by the power producers)," Yudha affirmed on Monday (Oct. 5).
To avoid possible losses, the PLN should ensure that the electricity capacity is fully utilized, so that it would not have to pay for idle capacity.
"It is the government's liability. It could become a burden for the state if the demand and designed capacity are not balanced. If demand is low while the designed capacity is high, it will cause losses to the state, in this case, the PLN," Yudha pointed out.
He also reminded the government to focus on matters relating to licenses and land clearance, so that the development of power plants will not be hindered.
Constraints related to land clearance could create uncertainty among investors. Therefore, he suggested that land clearance should be carried out in the form of business-to-business system and not business-to-government.
Moreover, the government should also consider prices as most of the generating plants are operated by foreign Independent Power Producers.
"All this must be taken into account and should be prepared well," he emphasized.
Head of the Research Center of the University of Indonesia Iwa Garniwa also suggested that the government should ascertain the quality of generating plants built by foreign investors.
"There must be no low-quality generating plants as this is a long-term matter, at least 20 years. It is a long-term investment. There should be no plant built at a low cost, but its quality is not good," Garniwa said. ***3***(T.A014/INE)DITED BY INE
(T.A014/A/BESSR/F. Assegaf) 23-10-2015 17:24:4 |
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